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Saturday, September 17, 2011

Soup's up! "Spring Sampler" necklace.

Well today is the big reveal…this is the day of the Bead Soup Blog Hop organised by Lori

There are 362 participants from 21 countries (and 5 continents)

We each were paired with a partner. My partner is Jennifer aka, Jennifer Jangles, a talented ceramic artist.

We exchanged a focal bead, clasp and other co-ordinating beads.

Just to remind you, these were the beads Jennifer sent to me.

Bead Soup ingredients.

As you can see, Jennifer's beads are fun and playful, colorful and funky.

I decided to (try and) find my inner child, buried deep within!

For me, one of the personal challenges of the Bead Soup participation is to challenge myself to not only use different styles of beads, but also to learn and apply different techniques to my piece (s) as well.

My wire working skills are pretty basic…so I felt that this was a time to teach myself a little more....

So, with the help of a good book or two (more on that to come) I coiled, twisted and wrapped and added these extras to Jennifer’s beads.

I called the result "Spring Sampler" (see below) - because it is now Spring in Australia and Jennifer's ingredients were bright, cheerful and inspiring, just like the Season.

The full necklace -" SPRING SAMPLER"

I added a pale aqua etched lampwork disc made by myself and a silver (soldered!) ring which I wrapped purple and silver wire on about half of it..

I also used suede cord for the first time and was delighted to find this gorgeous colored suede amongst my supplies.

I included a few little (old) 'white heart' African, aqua glass beads which were a perfect match to the dots on the flower focal. I was originally going to use these at the back of the necklace…….. but changed my mind at the last minute! Coiled purple wire loops provided the attachments to the suede cord which was then connected to the ceramic clasp.

Purple Para wire wrapped around one of Jennifers beads and a blue free form wire 'cage' bead.

I paired the necklace with a pair of earrings using Jennifer's lovely purple and blue ceramic barrel beads. Hand made “Tumbleweed French Ear Wires" (from the book "Handcrafted Wire Findings") were fun to make and very easy even for a novice.

POST NECKLACE MAKING MUSINGS!

The colored wire is 'Para' wire which was fun and easy to use. (I was a little disappoiunted with the pale aqua wire…it seemed to come from the coil in varying color strengths – I am not too sure if this is normal for that color or just an aberration.) It also did not look uniform in color on the roll or in the coil on the necklace. Oh well…

I also do wonder still if I should have stuck with my original idea (beads rather than suede) as I do find there is a cohesiveness about repeating elements….what do you think is best …..beads or suede cord?

99 comments:

Love the colours Jenni! I think the suede cord works but I have no doubt that beads would have been pretty too. You must be the first bead soup post-er, I'm sure! It's still very much Friday here so I am off to take some pictures of my pieces now. x x x

I love the Spring Sampler! My favorite part is that yellow bead that you wrapped in the wire. So clever, I want to learn how to do that. You did a fantastic job with my beads. I hope you like the necklace that I made with your beads...it's still Friday in the US so it will be another 10 hours before my post goes up. :)

Love what you did Jenni - bright and fun, especially now we're gearing up for autmn over here, and I like the contrasting texture of the suede.I've never used that shade of parawire but the colour variation seems a little odd. My post will be up in a few hours so not far behind you. Enjoy the party.

Thanks Rebecca, Jen, Lesley and Tracy for your comments. This is going to be such a mammoth event..I am having fun already! The time thing is always a problem for me...I never know WHEN I am supposed to post..oh well, done now!! jenx

I really love both the necklace and the earrings. The suede looks perfect with it but I'm sure the beads would too. It's all in personal preference. I usually prefer to not have solid beads on a necklace, but others do. The colors are fun and love the asymmetrical-ness of it. A little suggestion, you might want to add a link at the top of your page so people know where to look.

Lovely necklace! I like how you used BSBP as a challenge to work with new techniques. The colours and asymmetry is really nice and the mix of different types of wire-wrapped components add interest. I especially like that wrapped yellow bead.

As for beads only or suede, I like how the suede looks against the ceramic components. As Jennifer said, it'll probably mostly be a matter of personal taste if one prefers the one or the other.

I kind of like the idea of a non-uniform colour on the wire, but of cause if you're gooing for a more uniform look it'll be a disappointment to find that the wire isn't as expected. And we'll have to hope it's not a sign that more colour will come of later. But as it is now, I think it looks nice from what I can tell from the pics.

What a fun reminder that it's spring in another part of the world as we're fast heading into autumn here in Seattle. I loved the closeups - they really let me enjoy the lovely details of your necklace without mushing my nose to the screen. :)

Jenni, what a fun and whimsical necklace - and I would love wearing it in a heartbeat! I like the mix of beads in both size and color..and I think the suede cord is perfect. I wouldn't change a thing! Your tumbleweed earwire earrings are so pretty...I find it hard to imagine you're not more skilled with wire than you let on! :-) I love the variety of wirework that you used in your pieces!

Wonderful! You have created a terrific piece of wearable art. I like your use of color and texture, and I do think the suede cord works. Thank you for sharing your artistic process along the way. Cheers!Lori

No no, I like the suede! When there are a lot of things going on, I think that helps the eyes "rest" a bit (says the person who messed up her necklace). I truly love this piece -- totally my style and I'd wear it!

I hope you'll join me next time! The badge and dates will be posted tomorrow, the 19th!

I'm sitting here wondering what your wirework skills looked like before, if you consider yourself just basic? That is some of the most beautiful wirework I've seen! Love the contrast of purple wire with the yellow bead. I really like the suede cord. Thank you for the close up pics too. Great to get to see all the wonderful detail. You did a stunning job!

What a cool and colourful bead soup and you did a great job with it,Jenni! Love the necklace - it's so happy and funky.Thank you so much for all your lovely comments on my blog . I truly appreciate it :)Geanina :))

Oh I LOVE the cord! That soft yet bright, cheerful piece of suede just makes the colors in the rest of it pop that much more :) Plus I bet it feels so much nicer on your neck then beads or chain would ;)

What a fun and colourful piece, I just love "spring sampler" and it's a lovely change after all the fall pieces I've been seeing on the hop. Laughted at your posting your piece early...I did the same thing, completely forgot about the time difference (and then wondered why there weren't any blogs up to hop to, doh!). Big wave from Brisbane...x

Love it! Wonderful use of your soup, and your own components really spiced it up! What a fun, playful necklace. Great earrings, too. I appreciate how you walked up through your process - great pics, too!

Hi there my Aussie friend! Thanks so much for swinging by my soup party, and I LOVE your necklace. Wow, so stinkin cute! Love the little daisy, and the combination of colors and textures, I never would have introduced purple in that, and I love it! Great job. Riki

You say you are fairly new to wire wrapping but you couldn't prove that by me looking at your skills in this necklace! fabulous! Love the coils and the purple wrapped bead of Jennifer's, very creative! Thanks for your comments on my necklace and yes, the wire is sterling filled and I oxidized it with liver of sulfur, the chain is sterling silver also oxidized.

Jenny, this is stunning! You took these playful components and turned them into something very "adult". This is honestly one of the best bead soup pieces I have seen so far. Great job!!!Oh, and thank you for your nice comment on my blog! UTEE is Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel - scrapbookers often use it, but it also works great to alter beads :)

Really fun necklace and great earrings! I like how you incorporated wire work. I also like the title as well-I forget that the other side of the world is experiencing spring now! It is autumn here in the United States. Happy Spring to you!

How lucky you were to get some of Jangles' juicy beads! You really did a great job with them too! Your wirework accents are a lot of fun and definitely pick up the whimsy in her beads. Fantastic job.Oh as far as beads vs suede. . .I like the suede. It works!

You rose to the challenge beautifully - and you rocked the wireworking! Nice job. And I'd vote to keep the suede, since more beads might detract attention from the focal and the beads that are already there.

What a great necklace.... and a great name for it too! I love how you wrapped and coiled the yellow bead with purple wire - it really packs a punch. Jennifer's ceramic beads are awesome and you did a great job of working with them.

P.S. I'm glad to have found a fellow Aussie taking part in the BSBP. :)

I absolutely adore the way you combined all the soup elements to create such a fun springy necklace! My partner Patty sent me suede too, and I am glad I decided to use it. Another element of texture added for delight!